Food stamp cards fixed

An electronic glitch that rendered purchase cards for about 17,000 county food stamp recipients inoperable was fixed Tuesday morning.

Michael Weston of the state Department of Social Services in Sacramento said the account balances on those cards and those of about 20,000 others around California were restored about 8 a.m.

The problem developed on Sunday when a software update went awry, causing the cards issued to those eligible for food stamps to suddenly show a balance of zero.

“Everyone whose card was canceled has had it reactivated or been issued a new card,” Weston said.

The problem hit recipients of the state’s food stamp or CalFresh in 17 counties in California, Weston said.

The glitch apparently occurred when Hewlett-Packard was conducting a software update. A fix was worked out with state officials and Xerox, the prime contractor for the debit-style electronic balance transfer cards.

Some recipients who tried to use their cards on Sunday or early Monday went to local county assistance offices to get new cards. Officials at area food banks also were prepared to help those with an immediate need for groceries.

Anyone who believes they should have a balance available but finds their “electronic balance transfer” or EBT card isn’t working can call a service center at (877) 328-9677.

Nearly 257,000 San Diego County residents receive food stamp assistance. The maximum amount for an individual with no income is $200 a month. For a family of seven with no income, the maximum monthly allocation is $1,052. As income goes up, the amount of benefit goes down.

Through September of last year, slightly more than 4 million California residents were receiving food stamp assistance.